A look into (or a warning for) the target audiences for each song!
This does not include the deluxe portions for the sake of length.
- End of August
“Endin’ of August, the bugs are just startin’ to die”. The opening line and opening track to his album already start strong by mentioning the bugs, a small detail that quietly signals something bigger is changing. It connects to the title of the deluxe portion of the album “The Last of the Bugs”. The idea of good things starting to fade in correlation with the summer changing to fall. Instead of just marking the end of summer, it captures that idea of warmth and freedom fading with the weather. The song itself captures the feeling of being forced to move on, even when you aren’t ready. To me, it speaks to seeing the world look the same, yet change ao internally. A beautiful start to a beautiful album.
- Doors
“I keep showing you doors, but you can’t open them up. Cause it gets harder to see me the closer you try to look. I just live here, babe, but you’re the one who decided to knock”. The door metaphor shouldn’t be lost on anyone, they represent the emotional barriers people who are struggling put up. There is a level of connection that can’t be accessed in spaces like the one he’s representing in this song. The speaker of the song pushes the people away who get close. The door becomes less about choice and more about uncertainty, not knowing what leads to something real and what leads back to the same patterns.
- American Cars
“You’re gonna fix it, you’re gonna patch it up, ‘cuz honey we’re fragile, you’ve always been so tough.” With a more folky, energetic beat, this song covers a deep sense of missing home while dealing with guilt for leaving in the first place. Another aspect discovered in these lyrics is the pressure put on people to perform as the caretaker, and the guilt they must feel when they put themselves first. When leaving feels like a choice, but coming back and realizing you can’t return to what it was makes that choice feel heavier, that’s when we see this guilt come to the surface. For my people who have spent a lifetime putting others first and then decided to leave, hold off on this one for a bit.
- Downfall
“I don’t mind being your dead end. I think it’s fine to never move on.” The speaker of the song is speaking to someone who is stuck in their own harmful patterns and not being able to get out. There is a level of knowing when things go poorly; this person will always come back. They know there is a pattern that needs to be broken, but this person can’t seem to do it. The self-awareness and bluntness of the message are highlighted through softer music and vulnerable lyrics. The guitar focuses on a slower and more careful picking pattern, giving a strong distinction from the track previously. It brings to light how isolating these patterns in life can feel for all parties involved, with no escape from the truth. The “downfall” he speaks of is watching himself slowly lose control over his own mind.
- Paid Time Off
“And your love is like an open flame. I’m a running car, you’re a closed garage. Someone once told us there’s a world out there, but we don’t care enough to drive that far.” At first listen, this may seem like a wholesome song about finding love in a small town and growing together there. Wrong. Although the song does speak of love, the undertones explore knowing this love is unhealthy, yet refusing to do anything to fix it. To my understanding, the song is about using a relationship to hide from the bigger and more troubling parts of life. On a surface level, it’s about a small day with nothing left to do aside from enjoying the things around you. However, one thing about Noah Kahan’s music, there is always a deeper meaning.
- The Great Divide
“You know I think about you all the time and my deep misunderstanding of your life and how bad it must have been for you back then and how hard it was to keep it all inside.” We’ve reached the title track! This song truly is a reflection of distance. It captures the deep longing to reconnect with someone who’s been absent, especially someone you had a close and personal relationship with prior. The lyrics have a conversational quality that showcases the consistent and raw thoughts that can occur when you lose someone you used to be so close with. Themes of nostalgia and regret carry big emotional weight in this piece, all at the same time. It feels reflective rather than sad, almost a vote of permission to feel all the deep things.
- Haircut
“But at least I got soul still, even if I’m in a bad place.” This lyric alone highlights the emotional weight this song holds. There is a common theme in our world of feeling poor being an excuse to treat others similarly. There is a heavy implication of a great change occurring that can shape how you react in day-to-day life. To me, it speaks to the understanding that when something happens, there are two ways to go about it. Adapt and overcome or let it become you. It gives off this sense of restlessness, trying to navigate the hurt while finding a way to be better because of it. Almost like wanting to shake off an old habit, but doubting the success of it. Another song that involves a very raw lyrical aspect with softer instrumentals in the background. One of my personal favorites.
- Willing and Able
“I wish you could know me. I wish I could know you better somehow.” What I would give to go back and listen to this for the first time again. The emotional depth in this song speaks to me as a relationship unlike many others. Family. The first time I listened to this song, I pictured the bond between siblings who have drifted apart due to the nature and cruelty of the world. It goes back to the theme of longing and a deep desire for something unattainable that we see in previous songs, but in reference to a relationship that can be one of the most prominent in someone’s life. There is a different kind of pain when you reach a level of distance with a sibling; this song highlights the hurt that comes from the loss of that relationship.
- Dashboard
“It ain’t our fault that you aren’t suddenly somebody else because you worked on yourself.” Anyone who left home because you needed to get away, consider taking a beat before you listen to this one. Although not directed to those people specifically, the target audience of this song is people who had someone important to them run away because they were scared. The song itself has a newer tone of declarative anger that hasn’t been seen in a lot of his songs. Although most of Noah Kahan’s work deals with incredibly depressing themes, we see a more direct and angry approach with this one. With a constant line of calling someone an asshole, followed by calling someone a douche under his breath, we see a shift in his lyrics that differs from the majority of the songs on his album. This song speaks to the message opposite of “You’re Gonna Go Far”. He delves into the idea that running away from your issues without any empathy towards the ones you are affecting, and then blaming mental health for it all, is cowardice.
- 23
“’Cause if I never see you again, you could be anything I want.” This line is not central to the point of the song, but if there is one lyric to convince you to listen, it is that one. This song speaks to growing up, a topic most everyone can relate to. When we are younger, we don’t see that the world isn’t the perfect place we think it is. It speaks to the weird stage of knowing things are changing, but not quite knowing yourself well enough yet.
- Porch Light
“That you can only do what pain allows. It ain’t up to you to make it out, And there ain’t no shame in callin’ this thing quits.” The level of hurt in this song should be studied. The song conveys the hurt of knowing someone likely isn’t coming back after leaving, yet holding out hope for them to resurface when they are ready. The porch light serves as a warm and familiar place for a loved one to come back to when they feel ready. It spoke to me as a mother watching her kids pursue a new life separate from the one she built for them.
- Deny Deny Deny
“That you can only do what pain allows, it ain’t up to you to make it out and there ain’t no shame in callin’ this thing quits” OUCH!! Onto my favorite song of the album, which is a hard get because I love this album. This song does an outstanding job of exploring relationships with avoidant people. We delve into the world of frustration and hurt of communication with someone who shuts down and refuses to communicate when things get hard. Communication is something you build and grow with someone, not something that always comes directly. The beat of this song is important to the message. We hear more upbeat and frantic instrumental songs; there is more of a buildup, which correlates with the emotional buildup this lack of communication can bring between people.
- Headed North
“And it’s gone to shit without you. It was shit before, but at least I had you. No, there ain’t nothing to report, but I hope you’re bored and headed north.” This song, formatted as a voicemail, brings a familiar feeling of missing someone more than you think you should. The song sets the scene for two hometown best friends who went different paths, one stayed, and one left. The one who stayed rambles on and on about this shitty place not being the same without their friend. I think the specific formatting of the rambling and voicemail-esk writing makes this all the more interesting. And yes, this also happens to be the cyber truck song.
- We Go Way Back
“Oh, I love you, and I can’t fake that for a moment. We go way back, we go way back.” A reflective and emotionally grounded song that looks at the comfort and complexity of long-term relationships and where to go when it ends. Rather than focusing on a single dramatic story, it goes into a broader feeling of knowing someone so well and going back to being a stranger. There is a level of care and depth you will always feel for a person you give that much of yourself to, and this song navigates that. There are undertones of growing apart because life has different plans and a more general heartache that comes from the disconnect between two people who used to share so much. Not a solid song to listen to after a breakup!
- Spoiled
“They’ll say I wanna be you, but I don’t wanna be that.” In this song, we see a different theme than discussed. We see a warning or understanding towards his future children. A lot of the complaint I have read of this album is the level of repetitive reflectiveness and nostalgia-driven themes, which opens a new door for listeners. We see him open up about wanting to protect his children from being privileged just because of his career. It reflects his own sense of burnout and anxiety from his career, hoping to break the cycle with his children. It speaks to a more personal feeling from Noah Kahan rather than his typical writing being more general to the public.
- All Them Horses
“See the dried flood lines on the neighbors’ porches. Do you remember crying for all them horses? They did not look scared at all.” Another song I think needs more credit, themes of survivor’s guilt and anxiety surrounding coming back after an event that changes the course of the people living there. This specifically is about the Vermont floods and the guilt felt for all the lives lost. The depth and rarity of songs speaking to natural disasters and the effects in music bring a beautiful representation of the world.
- Dan
“You’ve been the best five minutes of a shitty old year.” Go hug your best friend really tight before you listen to this one. A better way to describe this would be an ode rather than a song. Writing to his best friend, we see another light of vulnerability in his work. A song spoken directly to his childhood best friend, who impacted his life in ways he wouldn’t realize until later. There is also a callback to another of Carlo’s songs, which speaks about childhood friends passing. This song is more of an upbeat and thankful song, a positive note to end an intentionally devastating album.
I am not an expert on music, so please take all my interpretations with a grain of salt, but I truly could not recommend this album more. Thank you, Noah Kahan, once again, for making me cry profusely. Go give “The Great Divide” a listen!